BLOS Childcare develops digital assistant for child planners
Changes in legislation and regulations, economic developments, new insights. If there is one industry that is always in flux, it is childcare. In order to guarantee the continuity of the organization in good and bad times, good staffing in the groups is very important. To support the planners, BLOS Childcare developed the Planning Assistant Childcare Organisation, Paco for short.
Paco is an initiative of BLOS director van de Blaak
Max van de Blaak, general director of BLOS Childcare has been investigating for some time whether it is possible to use algorithms in childcare: “Every day we look for ways to do things better and more efficiently. By automating processes, people save time for what really matters; focus on children and parents.
Together with Ab Ovo
One of the processes that lends itself to automation is child planning. After some searching I found a party that can offer support to translate the complexity of child planning into an algorithm. That was Ab Ovo. Ab Ovo is one of the leading parties in the Netherlands that focuses on complex planning issues. They do this mainly for aviation and rail traffic. Childcare is now added. You might not think it, but children's scheduling is comparable in complexity to these industries.
Together with Ab Ovo I developed a new functionality, which we named Paco together with KidsKonnect. Paco is the buddy who can help planners in their daily work. By using algorithms, he can view all placement options at lightning speed. With the help of Paco, planners can quickly anticipate and respond to changing circumstances. Paco helps them to get their complex work even better under control and to weigh up all interests as well as possible.
Together with Ab Ovo I developed a new functionality, which we named Paco together with KidsKonnect. Paco is the buddy who can help planners in their daily work. By using algorithms, he can view all placement options at lightning speed. With the help of Paco, planners can quickly anticipate and respond to changing circumstances. Paco helps them to get their complex work even better under control and to weigh up all interests as well as possible.
KidsKonnect shapes further development
We also involved KidsKonnect in the project. An algorithm is, of course, beautiful in principle, but if you also want to be able to use it optimally, good integration with the daily planning software is necessary. The first two algorithms for KDV and BSO have now been integrated into KidsKonnect.”
To make the solution widely available and to guarantee continuous development, KidsKonnect will continue to shape it. Paco already supports child planners with the complex puzzles of the waiting lists of KDV and BSO. But this is only the beginning, the developments are expanding further and further.
To make the solution widely available and to guarantee continuous development, KidsKonnect will continue to shape it. Paco already supports child planners with the complex puzzles of the waiting lists of KDV and BSO. But this is only the beginning, the developments are expanding further and further.
Together with childcare organizations
In further development, BLOS and KidsKonnect are working together with a number of other childcare organizations. This collaboration is important to ensure that the solutions are usable and accessible in practice, for different childcare providers, each with their own wishes and working method.
Max van de Blaak "We are looking forward to the further development process in collaboration with the parties involved in order to add further innovation to childcare in the Netherlands."
Max van de Blaak "We are looking forward to the further development process in collaboration with the parties involved in order to add further innovation to childcare in the Netherlands."